AL-ALBANI

A Concise Guide to the Chief Innovator of Our Time

Nasir al-Albani is the arch-innovator of the Wahhabis and "Salafis"
in our time. A watch repairman by trade, al-Albani is a self-taught claimant to
hadith scholarship who has no known teacher in any of the Islamic sciences and
has admitted not to have memorized the Book of Allah nor any book of hadith,
fiqh, `aqîda, usûl, or grammar. He achieved fame by attacking the great
scholars of Ahl al-Sunna and reviling the science of fiqh with especial malice
towards the school of his father who was a Hanafi jurist.

A rabid reviler of the Friends of Allah and the Sufis, he was expelled from
Syria then Saudi Arabia and lived in Amman, Jordan under house arrest until his
death in 1999. He remains the qibla of the people of Innovation, self-styled
re-formers of Islam, and other "Salafi" and Wahhabi sympathizers, and
the preferred author of book merchants and many uneducated Muslims. Most of the
contemporary Sunni scholars warned of his heresy and many of them wrote articles
or full-length works against him such as:

- The Indian hadith scholar Habib al-Rahman al-A`zami who wrote al-Albani
Shudhudhuh wa Akhta'uh ("Al-Albani's Aberrations and Errors")
in four volumes.

- The Syrian scholar Muhammad Sa`id Ramadan al-Buti who wrote the two
classics al-Lamadhhabiyya Akhtaru Bid`atin Tuhaddidu al-Shari`a al-Islamiyya
("Not Following A School of Jurisprudence is the Most Dangerous
Innovation Threatening Islamic Sacred Law") and al-Salafiyya
Marhalatun Zamaniyyatun Mubaraka La Madhhabun Islami ("The `Way of
the Early Muslims' Was A Blessed Historical Epoch, Not An Islamic School of
Thought")

- The Director of Religious Endowments in Dubai, `Isa ibn `Abd Allah
ibn Mani` al-Himyari who wrote al-I`lam bi Istihbab Shadd al-Rihal li
Ziyarati Qabri Khayr al-Anam - Allah bless and greet him - ("The
Notification Concerning the Recommendation of Travelling to Visit the Grave
of the Best of Creation - Allah bless and greet him -) and al-Bid`a al-Hasana
Aslun Min Usul al-Tashri` ("The Excellent Innovation Is One of the
Sources of Islamic Legislation").

- The Minister of Islamic Affairs and Religious Endowments in the
United Arab Emirates Shaykh Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Khazraji who wrote the
article al-Albani: Tatarrufatuh ("Al-Albani's Extremist
Positions").

7- He calls people to imitate him rather than the Imams of the Salaf such as
the founders of the Four Schools, and his followers invalidate the hadiths that
contradict his views.

8- He prohibits the make-up performance of prayers missed intentionally.

9- He claims that it is permissible for menstruating women and those in a
state of major defilement (junub) to recite, touch, and carry the Qur'an.

10- He claims over and over that among the innovations in religion existent
in Madina is the persistence of the Prophet's - Allah bless and greet him -
grave in the mosque.

11- He claims that whoever travels intending to visit the Prophet - Allah
bless and greet him - or to ask him for his intercession is a misguided
innovator.

12- He claims that whoever carries dhikr-beads in his hand to remember Allah
Most High is misguided and innovating.

13- He invented a location to Allah Most High above the Throne which he named
al-makân al-`adamî - "the non-existent place."

14- He claims in Tamam al-Minna that masturbation does not annul one's
fast.

15- He published "corrected" editions of the two Sahihs of al-Bukhari
and Muslim, which he deceitfully called "Abridgments" (mukhtasar)
in violation of the integrity of these motherbooks.

16- He published newly-styled editions of the Four Sunan, al-Bukhari's al-Adab
al-Mufrad, al-Mundhiri's al-Targhib wa al-Tarhib, and al-Suyuti's al-Jami`
al-Saghir, each of which he split into two works, respectively prefixed Sahih
and Da`if in violation of the integrity of these motherbooks.

17- He said: "Many of those who interpret figuratively [the Divine
Attributes] are not heretics (zanâdiqa), but they say what heretics
say," and "figurative interpretation is the very same as nullification
(al-ta'wîl `ayn al-ta`tîl)."2

18- He suggests that al-Bukhari is a disbeliever for interpreting the Divine
Face as dominion or sovereignty (mulk) in the verse "Everything
will perish save His countenance" (28:88) in the book of Tafsir in his Sahih:
"Except His wajh means except His mulk, and it is also said:
Except whatever was for the sake of His countenance." Albani blurts out:
"No true believer would say such a thing" and "We should consider
al-Bukhari innocent of that statement."3

19- In imitation of the Mu`tazila, tawassul (seeking means), istighâtha
(asking for help), and tashaffu` (seeking intercession) through the
Prophet - Allah bless and greet him - or one of the Awliyâ' he declared
prohibited acts in Islam (harâm) tantamount to idolatry (shirk)
in his booklet al-Tawassul as did his friends Bin Baz and those who obey
them such as al-Qahtani in al-Wala' wa al-Bara' and others, in flat
rejection of the numerous sound and explicit narrations to that effect, such as
al-Bukhari's narration of the Prophet - Allah bless and greet him - from Ibn `Umar
- Allah be well-pleased with him -: "Truly the sun shall draw so near on
the Day of Resurrection that sweat shall reach to the mid-ear, whereupon they
shall ask (istaghâthû) help from Adam - upon him peace -, then from
Musa - upon him peace - , then from Muhammad - Allah bless and greet him - who
will intercede (fa yashfa`u)... and that day Allah shall raise him to an
Exalted Station, so that all those who are standing [including the unbelievers]
shall glorify him (yahmaduhu ahlu al-jam`i kulluhum)."

20- He denies that the name of the Angel of death is `Azrâ'îl and claims
such a name has no basis other than Israelite reports, although `Iyad reports
the Consensus on the Umma on it in al-Shifa'.

21- Like the rest of Wahhabi and "Salafi" innovators he declares
Ash`aris, Maturidis, and Sufis to be outside the fold of Ahl al-Sunna and
even outside the fold of Islam, although Allah Most High and His Prophet - Allah
bless and greet him - praised them! Upon revelation of the verse "Allah
shall bring a people whom He loves and who love Him" (5:54), the
Prophet - Allah bless and greet him - pointed to Abu Musa al-Ash`ari - Allah be
well-pleased with him - and said: "They are that man's People."4 Al-Qushayri,
Ibn `Asakir, al-Bayhaqi, Ibn al-Subki, and others said that the followers of Abu
al-Hasan al-Ash`ari - i.e. Ash`aris who were mostly Sufis - are included among
Abu Musa's People for in every place that a people are affiliated to a Prophet,
what is meant is the followers of that Prophet.

As for Maturidis, they are referred to in the narration of the Prophet -
Allah bless and greet him - from Bishr al-Khath`ami or al-Ghanawi with a sound (sahîh)
chain according to al-Hakim, al-Dhahabi, al-Suyuti, and al-Haythami: "Truly
you shall conquer Constantinople and truly what a wonderful leader will her
leader be [Mehmet Fatih Sultan - Allah be well-pleased with him -], and truly
what a wonderful army will that army be!" Both the leader and his army were
classic Hanafi Maturidis and it is known that Mehmet Fatih loved and respected
Sufis, practiced tawassul, and followed a Shaykh. Moreover, enmity
against Ash`aris, Maturidis, and Sufis, is nifâq and enmity against the
Umma of Islam as most of the Ulema of Islam are thus described.

22- In at least five of his books5 he calls for the demolition of the Green
Dome of the Prophet's Mosque in al-Madina al-Munawwara and for taking the
Prophet's grave outside the Mosque.

23- He states: "I have found no evidence for the Prophet's - Allah bless
and greet him - hearing of the salaam of those who greet him at his grave"
and "I do not know from where Ibn Taymiyya took his claim6 that he - Allah
bless and greet him - hears the salaam from someone near." This and the
previous item are among his greater enormities and bear the unmistakable
signature of innovation and deviation.7<

24- He considers it an innovation to visit relatives, neighbors, or friends
on the day of `Eid and prohibits it.8

25- He gave the fatwa that Muslims should exit Palestine en masse and leave
it to the Jews as it is part the Abode of War (dâr al-harb).9

26- He advocates in his Salat al-Nabi - Allah bless and greet him -, the
formula "Peace and blessings upon the Prophet" instead of "upon
you, O Prophet" in the tashahhud in contradiction of the Four Sunni
Schools, on the basis of a hadith of Ibn Mas`ud whereby the Companions used the
indirect-speech formula after the passing of the Prophet - Allah bless and greet
him -. But the Prophet - Allah bless and greet him - himself instructed them to
pray exactly as he prayed saying: "Peace and blessings upon you, O
Prophet" without telling them to change it after his death, nor did the
major Companions (whose Sunna we were ordered to imitate together with that of
the Prophet - Allah bless and greet him -), such as Abu Bakr and `Umar, teach
the Companions and Successors otherwise!

27- He prohibits praying more than 11 rak`as in Tarawih prayers on the
grounds that the Prophet - Allah bless and greet him - never did and in blatant
rejection of his explicit command to follow the Sunna of the well-guided Caliphs
after him.

28- He declares that adding more to 11 supererogatory rak`as in the late
night prayer (tahajjud) is an innovation rather than an act of obedience
on the grounds that the Prophet - Allah bless and greet him - "never ever
prayed one hundred rak`as in his whole lifetime"10 although the Ulema agree
that there is no prescribed limit to something which the Prophet - Allah bless
and greet him - commanded without specifically quantifying it, and he - Allah
bless and greet him - said in three authentic narrations: "Know that the
best of your good deeds is prayer,"11 "Prayer is a light,"12 and
"The night prayer is in cycles of two [rak`as] and when one of you fears
the rising of the dawn, let him pray a single one."13 It is also
established in many authentic narrations collected by Imam `Abd al-Hayy al-Lacknawi
in the second part of his Iqamat al-Hujja `ala anna al-Ikthar min al-Ta`abbudi
Laysa bi Bid`a that the Companions and Salaf prayed hundreds if not
thousands of rak`as in every twenty-four hours!

29- He considers it an innovation to pray four rak`as between the two adhâns
of Jumu`a and before Salat, although it is authentically narrated that "the
Prophet - Allah bless and greet him - prayed four rak`as before Jumu`a and four
rak`as after it."14

30- He declares it prohibited (harâm) and an innovation to lengthen
the beard over a fistful's length although there is no proof for such a claim in
the whole Law and none of the Ulema ever said it before him.15

31- He gives free rein to his propensity to insult and vilify the Ulema of
the past as well as his contemporaries. As a result it is difficult to wade
through his writings without being affected by the nefarious spirit that
permeates them. For example, he considers previous editors and commentators of
al-Bukhari's al-Adab al-Mufrad ("Book of Manners"!)
"sinful," "unbearably ignorant," and even "liars"
and "thieves." Of one he says: "There are so many weak hadiths
[in his choice]... that it is an unislamic practice"; of another: "It
is ignorance which must not be tolerated"; of another: "Forgery and
open lie... His edition is stolen [from a previous one]."16 Such examples
actually fill a book compiled by Shaykh Hasan `Ali al-Saqqaf and titled Qamus
Shata'im al-Albani wa Alfazihi al-Munkara al-Lati Yatluquha `ala `Ulama' al-Umma
("Dictionary of al-Albani's Insults and the Heinous Words He Uses Against
the Scholars of the Muslim Community").

32- He revived Ibn Hazm's anti-madhhabî claim that differences can never be
a mercy in any case but are always a curse on the basis of the verse (If it had
been from other than Allah they would have found therein much discrepancy(
(4:82).17 Imam al-Nawawi long since refuted this view in his commentary on Sahih
Muslim where he said: "If something is a mercy, it is not necessary for its
opposite to be the opposite of mercy. No-one makes this binding and no-one even
says this, except an ignoramus or one who affects ignorance." Similarly,
al-Munawi said in Fayd al-Qadir: "This is a contrivance that showed up on
the part of some of those who have sickness in their heart."

33- He expresses hatred for those who read Imam al-Busiri's masterpiece, Qasidat
al-Burda, and calls them cretins (mahâbîl),18 i.e. millions of
Muslims past and present including the likes of Imams Ibn Hajar al-`Asqalani,
al-Sakhawi, and al-Suyuti who all included it as required reading in the Islamic
curriculum.19

34- He perpetuates lies if they detract from Ash`aris, such as his remark
that Imam Sayf al-Din al-Amidi did not pray,20 although Dr. Hasan al-Shafi`i in
his massive biography entitled al-Amidi wa Ara'uhu al-Kalamiyya showed
that the story that al-Amidi did not pray was a forgery put into circulation
during the campaign waged by Imam Ibn al-Salah against him for teaching logic
and philosophy in Damascus.

35- He perpetuates the false claim first made by Munir Agha the founder of
the Egyptian Salafiyya Press, that Imam Abu Muhammad al-Juwayni - the father of
Imam al-Haramayn - "repented" from Ash`ari doctrine and supposedly
authored a tract titled Risala fi Ithbat al-Istiwâ' wa al-Fawqiyya
("Epistle on the Assertion of Establishment and Aboveness").21 This
spurious attribution continues to be promoted without verification - for obvious
reasons - by modern-day "Salafis" who adduce it to forward the claim
that al-Juwayni embraced anthropomorphist concepts. The Risala in question is
not mentioned in any of the bibliographical and biographical sources nor does
al-Dhahabi cite it in his encyclopedia of anthropomorphist views entitled
al-`Uluw. More conclusively, it is written in modern argumentative style and
reflects typically contemporary anthropomorphist obsessions.

36- He derides the fuqahâ' of the Umma for accepting - in their
massive majority - the hadith of Mu`adh ibn Jabal on ijtihâd as
authentic then rejects the definition of knowledge (`ilm) in Islam as
pertaining to fiqh but claims that it pertains only to hadith,22 although the
Ulema of the Salaf explicitly said that a hadith master without fiqh is a
misguided innovator! And he defines the `âlim as "meaning, of course, the
`Salafi' `âlim, not the `Khalafi [late Egyptian Shaykh] Ghazali'!"23
Al-Qurtubi said: "One of the knowers of Allah said: A certain group that
has not yet come up in our time but shall show up at the end of time, will curse
the scholars and insult the jurists."24